Clint Dempsey is the captain. Jozy Altidore is the star forward. Tim Howard has been at a premier level the longest. But this is Michael Bradley's team.

The 2-0 World Cup qualifying win over Panama on Tuesday night served as a handy reminder how essential Bradley is to the U.S. national team.

Michael Bradley has led the U.S. to three straight wins in June. (AP Images)

Consider: In the past four U.S. games, Bradley missed one to play in the Coppa Italia with Roma. The United States lost 4-2 to Belgium. Then, with Bradley back in the lineup, it won three straight – 4-3 over Germany, 2-1 in Jamaica and the result against Panama.

“Tonight he took over the game,” Brad Evans said on Tuesday.

The game was the most well rounded and dynamic in the Jürgen Klinsmann era. Bradley's surging run – think a more compact Yaya Toure – and crisp layoff led to the opening goal.

“He's a mature player – accepts responsibility for bad performances, bad passes. And they come so few and far between that you come to lean on Michael,” Tim Howard said. “If he's there you feel like you have every chance of winning.”

Howard ventured that Bradley is the best midfielder in CONCACAF.

“Playing at Roma it's starting to really all come together,” Howard said. “He's a magnificent player, he's young and he'll have 850 caps by the time he's finished playing. We love having him.”

In his 76th cap, Bradley connected 78 of his 87 attempted passes, dominating proceedings against Panama in Seattle.

“Mikey's our quarterback. Everyone knows that,” DaMarcus Beasley said. “He's simple. I think going to Italy has helped him a lot. He's so calm on the ball. He never loses it – maybe once maybe a game, that's it. If that, sometimes. He's so good on the ball. We know that if we give him the ball, we're going to keep possession.”

Beasley has known Bradley for nearly a decade and a half. Michael Bradley's father, Bob, coached the Chicago Fire when Beasley first burst into the scene as a teenager.

“Michael is Michael,” Beasley said. “He was playing with us when I was 17 with the Fire and he was, I think, 12. He was playing with us, Peter Nowak, [Hristo] Stoitchkov, he was training with us. He's had that mentality since he was a boy. To see him grow as the player he is now is pretty incredible.”

Bradley joined his father at the Metrostars, helping the club into the playoffs as a teenager, before jumping to Heerenveen in the Netherlands once Bob lost his job. Strategic and incremental moves forward led the now 25-year-old to Borussia Monchengladbach and Chievo before joining Roma this season.

In Italy, they call him General Bradley.

After the departure of his father as the national team coach, Michael has become even more essential to the USA. By now, it's his team.

“Michael's one of the best players I've ever played with,” Evans said. “He's still 25 years old. It's insane. He plays outside of his age.”

Evans mentioned that he watches the player three years his junior for ways to improve his own game, particularly in daily physical maintenance. Even the veterans look up to him.

“I'm glad he's on our side,” Beasley said.

Stuck on the tarmac

On Tuesday, Mexico drew 0-0 for the third consecutive time at home for the first time in El Tri history. Estadio Azteca bellowed “Chepo out” when the result became inevitable. Thus far, Jamaica, the United States and Costa Rica have all shut down Mexico in the once impenetrable Azteca in World Cup qualifying.

In 2013, Mexico has drawn eight of its nine games. El Tri has scored a total of six goals, including three goals in six Hexagonal matches, to leave it on eight points after the halfway mark. Teams will likely need 16 points to automatically qualify for the 2014 World Cup from CONACAF. The last four games for Mexico are: Honduras, at the United States, Panama and a trip to Costa Rica.

De la Torre might not be around for those games. First is the Confederations Cup in Brazil, where El Tri joins the significantly more difficult group along with the host, Italy and Japan. The FMF might make a change prior to the 2013 Gold Cup, which kicks off in July.

Monterrey coach Victor Manuel Vucetich is the favorite. He turned down the job before the FMF appointed to Chepo in October 2010, citing family reasons. Since, Vucetich has led Monterrey to three straight CONCACAF Champions League trophies. His team is the most formidable outfit in Liga MX over the past few seasons.

Other options include Miguel Herrera and Luis Fernando Tena, both of whom have shiny new medals on their resumes. Herrera won the 2013 Liga MX Clausura with Club America. However, with World Cup qualifying essential, Mexico will likely want a steadier hand than the eccentric Herrera, who tends to coach erratic, top-heavy squads.

Tena is the current assistant coach on El Tri, which means he's handy if the FMF needs to make a quick swap in the middle of a busy summer schedule. He won the 2012 Olympics with Mexico's largely U-23 squad, so besides a gold medallion, he has intimate knowledge of the upcoming generation of Mexican players.

Of course, Chepo could still save his job with a positive performance in the Confederations Cup and by winning the Gold Cup. He has only lost three of 37 games as national team coach. In the last five matches, El Tri has only conceded two goals. But, again, this is Mexico. A solid defense without the right results might not be enough.

If Mexico doesn't make it out of the group stages in the Confederations Cup, De la Torre probably won't be on the plane that brings El Tri back from Brazil.

Ciao, Massimo

Massimo Ambrosini debuted as an 18-year-old for AC Milan in a 3-2 win over Cagliari. His teammates that day included Franco Baresi, Alessandro Costacurta, Marcel Desailly, Paolo Maldini and Demetrio Albertini.

The last substitute in his last game for Milan, a 2-1 win over Siena, was Kevin Constant.

By that time, Ambrosini had already picked up his second booking to close out his Milan career in the 69th minute with an ejection.

The 36-year-old was the last holdover from Carlo Ancelotti's great Milan side. The club already announced that Ambrosini will leave when his contract expires this month. In his 18-year, 489-game spell with Milan, Ambrosini won four league titles, two Champions League trophies and the Club World Cup.

He was a solid contributor for the Italian national team for nearly a decade, making 35 appearances.

Two players remain from the last time Milan won the Champions League, in 2007: Daniele Bonera, a spot starter at best, and Christian Abbiati. The goalkeeper spent most of Milan's glory years out on loan and was passed over for the armband at a club where length of tenure determines captaincy.

With Ambrosini's departure, an era ends.

Ambrosini was never an elite player. He carved out a role as a midfield enforcer – gritty, yes, but stylish as well. “He was more than a player, he was a symbol of the club,” Adriano Galliani said on Milan's official site.

Now, if anything symbolizes Milan, it's the mohawks on three of its spry, temperamental forwards. The club has become younger over the last several seasons, but done so at the expense of the gravitas that used to characterize the team.

Ambrosini epitomized the classiness of the club in a former era, golden as his locks.